Same Game, New Feelings
by fan5858
Summary: Imagine Peeta's tribute interview for the 75th Hunger Games wasn't a hoax. What if everything he said was true? What if Katniss and Peeta went too far, and it's too late to turn back? Follow this story to find out.


**This chapter short, but I want to set this story in motion, and give myself a base. Let me know what you think in the comments, it helps to get feedback. The next chapters will be more detailed, more riveting, and I'll try not to disappoint.**

I'm sitting in the woods, running through the past few days in my head. It has been a few months since the hunger games ended, the hunger games that brought Peeta and I together, then tore us apart. The hunger games that killed Rue, and gave me nightmares that seem to have no end. The hunger games that ripped me away from my little sister, and my best friend, and brought me back to them. The same hunger games that has made me feel like an alien in the only place that truly feels like home, the woods.

I shake my head from all of these thoughts, they are too much, I decided a few days ago that I needed to stop wallowing around and acting all hurt. It will get me absolutely no where, but I still find myself consumed in these negative thoughts.

Gale isn't here, we barely ever hunt together anymore. I told him I missed him terribly, and a just two days later he said he had saved up enough to take a few days off from the mine to spend with me. That was five days ago, and we did spend a lot of time together here in the woods. The days didn't turn out like I thought they would at all though.

The first day was so nice, we spent all day long in the woods, silent, hunting, and learning how to fit together again. The second day we left early for the woods, and I could tell from the minute he showed up on my new doorstep, that he had something on his mind. I wasn't going to push anything though, I wasn't entirely sure if I wanted him to say anything that might ruin these perfect days.

We decided to spend the night in the shelter by the lake that second night, to take a full advantage of the entire third day. Gale surprised me with a big feast that night, and we roasted the fresh turkey we shot that day. Some time during the meal, the rain started and the drops were loud against the roof. We were enjoying some candies for dessert. I would have preferred the sweet apple tarts that Peeta bakes, but I noticed we also did not have any bread for the meal, even though it would have tasted even better with it. I guess Gale didn't want to chance seeing Peeta.

Of course as soon as I thought about Peeta my heart constricted, I couldn't understand why though. Why does my heart seem to be a million times faster, and constrict at the same time at the simple thought of him? It was something that I have never experienced before. It was at that moment Gale finally decided to tell me what he needed to get off his chest, and even though I was expecting it, I was still stunned speechless.

I lose myself in the memory.

 _Two Nights Ago_

"I love you, Katniss." Gale says loudly so he can be heard over the rain. I swallow the hard candy I had been enjoying, and it hurts even worse than it should trying to get past the knot forming in my throat. I start coughing uncontrollably, and Gale has to come over and make sure I'm not going to choke to death. _Geez Katniss, real smooth._

"Sorry Catnip, I guess I should have waited until you were done eating the choking hazard." He's forcing a lightness into his voice, but underneath that, anyone could hear the nerves.

My throat starts to unclench, and after sipping the water Gale gives me I stop coughing. I play it up for just a few moments more just to give myself a little more time to figure out what to say. The fact is, I have no idea what to say.

"Gale..." He lifts his eyes to mine hopefully, "I don't- I don't know how to feel." I answer honestly. He looks deflated, and instantly I feel awful. I've never even given him a chance, and if there was no Peeta in the picture would I be saying those three words back to him? I'm trying to work this out in my head when Gale leans over, pauses in front of my face, silently asking if this is okay. I'm about to push him away, but maybe... Maybe I need to know how it feels.

I lean, decimating the distance between us, and Gale and I have our first kiss. He is a good kisser, his lips are aggressive as he takes over my mouth. I like his hands, strong and confident as they slide across my cheek and into my hair. I like his steady and sure heart beat as he presses his chest to mine.

But.

I loved how Peeta's lips were always so light and soft. I loved how gently he held me, like he cherished every part of me. I loved how fast his heart beat got, almost as fast as mine when we kissed in that cave.

The feeling hits me like a brick and I suck in a lungful of air as I push Gale away from me. "No. Gale, no."

He doesn't understand, "Katniss, what's wrong, did I do something wrong? Are you okay?" When I look down at my hands now knotted in my lap, and don't respond, he pleads, "Talk to me, Katniss."

I can't tell him that I love Peeta. I can't tell him how I feel before I tell Peeta himself. Gale will not be the first to hear my feelings. For the first time in my life, Gale will not be the one to hear what I am thinking.

"Gale, I can't do this I'm sorry. I need to go." He curses as I take off through the door and towards the fence, I know what I need to do. I know where I need to be. I know who I need to be with.

I faintly hear Gale yell after me, but I am faster than him, and I quickly drown out his voice with distance, as the cold rain pelts me. It is so dark I can barely see anything, but I don't need light to follow the path I've taken for years.

I don't stop to check the fence for signs of electricity, I wouldn't be able to hear it anyway with the rain, as I scurry through the opening in the bottom. Guess the power is off or I would have been fried. I run to the victors village, but I don't stop at my house, I run to a different house.

As I climb up the stairs, for the first time since I left the lake, I start to wonder what the hell I'm doing. Too late. I have already pounded on the door, and see a light flicker on somewhere in the house through the window. I know he's coming, but I pound on the door again anyway because he isn't coming fast enough. I have to say the words that are trying to burst out of me.

The door handle jiggles as Peeta opens the door.

There he is, standing there is some silk pajama pants, no shirt, but a nice thick, dark robe that hangs open. I don't even know what time it is, but he was very obviously asleep. I can tell, even through his swollen sleepy eyes, that he is surprised to see me. "Katniss? Are you okay? You're soaking wet-" I don't let him finish. Instead I yell,

"I love you!"


End file.
